


Baby, I'm yours

by xofunghoul



Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018) Actor RPF
Genre: Co-workers, Friends to Lovers, M/M, oblivious Joe Mazzello
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:15:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27519727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xofunghoul/pseuds/xofunghoul
Summary: It's Joe's birthday and he's a little sad. In his quest of making the night special for him, Ben ends up making it special for both of them.
Relationships: Ben Hardy/Joe Mazzello
Comments: 7
Kudos: 21
Collections: Two Years of BoRhap 2020 Exchange





	Baby, I'm yours

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Just_Call_Me_Floss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Just_Call_Me_Floss/gifts).



> Based on Schitt's Creek S03E13 Grad Night.

It wasn’t an exaggeration when they said they all got on like fire. From day one, there was a connection between the foursome who would play Queen in the upcoming biopic that made it all seem like fate put them together in the same project. They didn’t need many bonding exercises, just watch each other struggle and stumble through the first weeks of band practice to get a sense of band and understanding. They were all in this together and there was an enormous weight put on their shoulders. After all, Queen was loved passionately by the whole world and if they screwed it up it could just ruin their careers, careers that for some of them hadn’t even picked up. 

In time, they were getting good and the spark between them kept growing. You know one of those times when you meet someone and you feel like you’ve known each other forever? Well this was exactly it. And even if Joe and Rami knew each other for a few years, there was something between Joe and Ben that was inexplicable.

They are an unlikely pair after all, 7 years apart. One painfully american, one very English and the Brit even thought that casting an american to play legend bassist John Richard Deacon was a bit off, by day 3 Ben was eating his own thoughts because of how talented the man was and he found himself stuck to him, asking him all sort of questions and paying attention to everything he did or say. 

A few months into work, Joe’s birthday was on a day they were shooting and production went all out to celebrate him on set, bringing him a cake and decorating where they were filming. It was all great fun and a commotion but by the end of the day Ben noticed that the typical bubbliness that surrounded his friend was dying down as they packed up to leave. 

“So, what are you doing tonight?” Ben asked, bag thrown over his shoulder, a little sweaty from all the hours under the bright lights and the makeup and all the layers of clothing but now down to a sports short and a plain black t-shirt looking down at Joe packing up to leave, a little bent down over the sofa at the rehearsal space.

“Tonight?” Joe asks puzzled, looking over his shoulder up to Ben while he blindly zips his own bag and hangs the strap to his shoulder. “I’m going back to my hotel, cry a bit before going to sleep and just hopefully pass out at some point?” He’s trying to be funny but after a few months of knowing him, Ben knows there’s some sort of truth underneath it and he isn’t looking at Joe as if he’s just said a joke; he’s taking him seriously. Joe sighs, “It’s just spending my birthday here when my dad is--” 

“Yeah, of course,” Ben nods in understanding. He knows all about Joe’s dad and how sick he is and yes, of course Joe would love to be with them tonight, he doesn’t need to explain himself to him, “But you should do something tonight. I um--” For some reason, Ben is hearing his heart suddenly sounding loud in his ears but he tries to breathe as normally as possible and continues, “I’d love to take you out to dinner-- you think you can push you’re crying for a few hours?” 

Lucky for Ben, Joe chuckles at his lousy joke and it makes him beam a little without him realizing it. “You don’t have to do that, really. I was joking, I’ll be fine,” 

“What do you mean ‘don’t have to’? I want to. Come on, I’ll go home to change and I’ll pick you up at the hotel in an hour, we can have whatever you want, my treat!” Ben is a little over enthusiastic which is unusual for him and he can see that in Joe’s surprised face. But Joe says nothing about it. 

“Oh well, if it’s your treat, I’ll have champagne AT least,” his friend shrugs and tugs at his own bag on his shoulder as they walk out of set with silent smiles on their faces. 

*****

It’s a weekday so the pub where Ben takes Joe isn’t at all too crowded so it’s nice and they can relax and talk without needing to shout over the place’s noise. They sit at a small booth and share some chips and beer while they wait for dinner. Ben ordered some classic pub food that he insists Joe MUST try and the redhead agrees without much insistence. 

“Sorry I’m late-”

Standing there next to them outside the booth stands Rami a little breathless, seemingly having run to meet them. But Ben is puzzled because he didn’t invite him and he’s frowning at him without realizing it which is very rude but he only notices when Rami frowns back at him. 

“I’m sorry, is this okay?” He asks Ben who’s acting the strangest they’ve seen him in the short months they’ve met him but the blond shakes his head and turns his frowny face into a smiley one. 

“No, no, absolutely” Ben hurries out and starts climbing out the booth, “The more, the merrier,” he stands up and lets Rami slide in but he doesn’t sit back down himself. “I’m gonna go to the bathroom, excuse me,” 

When Rami sits and faces Joe, he has the biggest frown Joe has seen on him in awhile. “That was odd, but happy birthday again,”

“Thank you and yes, it was,” 

“Is this a date?” Rami asks out of the blue and now the frown is on Joe.

“What? No, stop that!” Joe complains because Rami has been hinting at Ben liking Joe a few times now and Joe is so oblivious he can’t even bring himself to consider it, Rami is insane. 

“Come on!” his friend insists and then looks to his side, in the booth and notices a bag. “Joe, he bought you a present. I didn’t even bought you a present,”

“Yes, thank you for that,” Joe rolls his eyes but looks at the bag next to Rami, dying of curiosity.

“Man, if there’s something remotely sentimental in this bag, this is a date.”

The redhead rolls his eyes again and is about to tell Rami that he’s insane and that Ben probably got him something because he felt bad that he had to spend his birthday away from his family and it sure is something small, but he doesn’t get to say any of that because Ben is returning and sliding in next to Rami. 

“What’d miss?” Ben asks once seated, elbows resting on the table and fingers laced together, looking back at Rami and Joe in front of him. 

Rami has a glint of mischief in his eyes which makes Joe’s skin crawl a little when he watches him turn to Ben and evil quirked eyebrow, almost as if he was accusing the poor blond of something. “So, Ben, you bought Joe a present,”

“Oh-” Ben looks taken aback and looks back at Joe, then at Rami again, “Yeah, it’s- nothing, he can open it late- oh, okay,” Before Ben could say anything else, Rami put the bag on the table. It’s a nice black gift bag, nicely wrapped and it definitely is not a small thing. 

“Open it, Joe!” Rami pushes the bag towards Joe and Joe sighs and rolls his eyes but takes the bag, otherwise Rami won’t stop pushing the subject and honestly he’ll have to kill him and they’ll have to look for another Freddie and another John, it’ll be a whole thing so he takes the bag and opens it and it takes him by absolute surprise. 

“Oh my God. This is…” Joe says once he peeks in and through the wrap and he sees a vinyl inside, but not just any vinyl. 

“Your favourite Queen song,” Ben explains. 

“Yeah, how did you--?” Joe finally takes it out and shows Rami it’s the single for Somebody to Love. It looks a little vintage too, he doesn’t even want to know how Ben found this or how much it cost. 

“You told Brian, that first day at the rehearsal space. We were all shit scared, you were too but-- you didn’t look it. You just kept making conversation with him, as if you’ve known the man for years. It was… bloody impressive I must say.” 

“And you remembered that,” If Joe didn’t know any better he’d say Ben was blushing but, it couldn’t be possible, could it? 

“umm, yeah. It was nothing,” Ben waves a hand at him and clears his throat a little but he’s smiling, no, he’s beaming a little. And frankly, so is Joe. 

“It’s not nothing, this song is very important to me. Thanks Ben,”

“Cheers” Ben nods and raises his pint of beer towards Joe before he takes a big gulp. 

“Oh shit, look at the time.” Rami looks at a non-existent watch on his wrist, and makes no effort on making his exit not obvious, “I totally forgot I have this thing tonight. Mr. Robot stuff. I’ll see you guys tomorrow, yeah?,” he makes Ben stand up again so he can slide off the booth and when he’s walking away behind Ben, he gives Joe a wink and thumbs up. 

*****

The night goes great and the little awkwardness after Rami leaves them washes off quickly with funny stories from set or whatever Joe can come up with, mostly making Ben laugh all night while they enjoy a shiton of pub food that they share, Ben making a point of him trying all the classics and especially his favorites and by the end of the night they’re full and happy and Joe’s forgotten for a while how sad this birthday was for him but how much it got better thanks to Ben. 

“Well, this is you,” Ben announces once he pulls over by Joe’s hotel and stops the car. “Hope you had a nice time,”

“Amazing, thank you so much,” Joe says and hugs his gift a little to his chest with a smile. 

There’s a small pause where they smile at each other before Ben breaks the silence, “I’m really glad that of all the Englishmen out there, they chose  _ you _ to play Deaky,” he jokes, “You’re really doing an amazing job and I’m happy to work alongside you,”

Joe smiles, but doesn’t say anything at first, they just look at each other in silence and Ben’s smiles fade. He seems a little nervous so Joe doesn’t hesitate a second longer and brings a hand up to the side of the blond’s face. He brings him in for a short but sweet kiss on the lips and when they break apart they’re both smiling and the silence lingers on for a while longer and Joe looks away, pressing his lips tightly together so he doesn’t grin any bigger. 

“Thank you,” Ben finally says.

“For… what?”

_ “I’ve never done that before, with a guy.” Ben chuckles nervously, “And I was getting a little scared that I was gonna let you leave here without us having done that, so um- thank you for making that happen for us,” ** _

Joe is a little lost for words for a second but he does what he does best and is joking his way out of an intense situation,  _ “Well, lucky for you I’m a very generous person,” ** _

They both chuckle at that and Joe starts to unbuckle his seat belt and this new silence doesn’t feel heavy or awkward, it’s pleasant, it’s nice. 

“We’ll talk tomorrow,” Ben says as Joe grabs his present and starts opening the car door to get out. 

“We can talk whenever you like, as long as I’ve had coffee first,”

“I’ll make sure of that on set tomorrow morning,” 

“Good.” Joe says and finally steps out of the car, closing the door behind him but turning around to look at Ben through the open window, “Bye, Ben”

“Goodnight, Joe,” 

**Author's Note:**

> ** This is a direct quote from the episode this was based on.
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy and give it some love!  
> Also, I don't know if you caught that reference to that old interview but if you do <3


End file.
